Unknown cost of plant border checks
The organisation representing the UK’s horticultural and environmental industries has warned the Government of the dangers of their post-Brexit border policies. On April 30, high-risk plant checks will be transferred to Border Control Posts (BCPs) and the Horticultural Trades Association fears this could have a disastrous impact on plant growers and UK gardeners.
HTA Chairman James Barnes has written to Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for DEFRA, stating that the ability of BCPs to adequately assess the health of plants and trees is ‘drastically deficient’. There are also concerns that without a proper pricing structure in place for the checks, any tariffs incurred may cause the prices of plants to rise to such an extent they are out of the reach of many gardeners. Mr Barnes said: “The consequences present a dramatic risk to the
breadth of UK horticulture businesses, the majority of which are SMEs, to jobs, biosecurity, environmental target delivery, and the choice available to UK’s 30 million gardeners.”
SMEs are small to medium-sized enterprises, companies with no more than 500 employees.
Mr Barnes added: “From lacking the space and equipment to unload mature loads, such as trees, to having just a few curtain-sided checking bays, BCPs are not able to handle the checking of our sector’s goods at the volume and speed required to ensure the free flow of imports.”